Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Public Health Impact Of Paxlovid Covid-19 Treatment In The United States, Yuan Bai, Zhanwei Du, Lin Wang, Eric H. Y. Lau, Isaac Fung, Petter Holme, Ben Cowling, Alison Galvani, Robert Krug, Lauren Ancel Meyers

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

The antiviral drug Paxlovid has been shown to rapidly reduce viral load. Coupled with vaccination, timely administration of safe and effective antivirals could provide a path towards managing COVID-19 without restrictive non-pharmaceutical measures. Here, we estimate the population-level impacts of expanding treatment with Paxlovid in the US using a multi-scale mathematical model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission that incorporates the within-host viral load dynamics of the Omicron variant. We find that, under a low transmission scenario (Re∼1.2) treating 20% of symptomatic cases would be life and cost saving, leading to an estimated 0.26 (95% CrI: 0.03, 0.59) million hospitalizations averted, 30.61 (95% …

Comprehensive Evaluation Of Treatment And Outcomes Of Low-Grade Diffuse Gliomas, Catherine R. Garcia, Stacey A. Slone, Thomas A. Pittman, William H. St. Clair, Donita D. Lightner, John L. Villano

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Background

Low-grade gliomas affect younger adults and carry a favorable prognosis. They include a variety of biological features affecting clinical behavior and treatment. Having no guidelines on treatment established, we aim to describe clinical and treatment patterns of low-grade gliomas across the largest cancer database in the United States.

Methods

We analyzed the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2015, for adult patients with a diagnosis of World Health Organization grade II diffuse glioma.

Results

We analyzed 13,621 cases with median age of 41 years. Over 56% were male, 88.4% were white, 6.1% were black, and 7.6% Hispanic. The most …

Global Stability For A 2n + 1 Dimensional Hiv/Aids Epidemic Model With Treatments, Olusegun Michael Otunuga

Mathematics Faculty Research

In this work, we derive and analyze a 2n + 1-dimensional deterministic differential equation modeling the transmission and treatment of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) disease. The model is extended to a stochastic differential equation by introducing noise in the transmission rate of the disease. A theoretical treatment strategy of regular HIV testing and immediate treatment with Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) is investigated in the presence and absence of noise. By defining R0, n, Rt, n and Rt,n as the deterministic basic reproduction number in the absence of ART treatments, deterministic basic reproduction number in the presence of …

Longitudinal Measurement And Hierarchical Classification Framework For The Prediction Of Alzheimer's Disease, Meiyan Huang, Wei Yang, Qianjin Feng, Wufan Chen, Michael Weiner, Paul Aisen, Ronald Petersen, Clifford R. Jack Jr., William Jagust, John Trojanowki, Arthur W. Toga, Laurel Beckett, Robert C. Green, Andrew Saykin, John Morris, Leslie M. Shaw, Jeffrey Kaye, Joseph Quinn, Lisa Silbert, Betty Lind, Raina Carter, Sara Dolen, Lon S. Schneider, Sonia Pawluczyk, Mauricio Beccera, Liberty Teodoro, Bryan Spann, James Brewer, Helen Vanderswag, Adam Fleisher, Charles D. Smith, Greg A. Jicha, Peter A. Hardy, Partha Sinha, Elizabeth Oates, Gary Conrad

Neurology Faculty Publications

Accurate prediction of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is important for the early diagnosis and treatment of this condition. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an early stage of AD. Therefore, patients with MCI who are at high risk of fully developing AD should be identified to accurately predict AD. However, the relationship between brain images and AD is difficult to construct because of the complex characteristics of neuroimaging data. To address this problem, we present a longitudinal measurement of MCI brain images and a hierarchical classification method for AD prediction. Longitudinal images obtained from individuals with MCI were investigated to acquire important …

Using Survival Analysis To Identify Risk Factors For Treatment Interruption Among New And Retreatment Tuberculosis Patients In Kenya, Enos O. Masini, Omar Mansour, Clare E. Speer, Vittorio Addona, Christy L. Hanson, Joseph K. Sitienei, Hillary K. Kipruto, Martin Muhingo Githiomi, Brenda Nyambura Mungai

Vittorio Addona

" Despite high tuberculosis (TB) treatment success rate, treatment adherence is one of the major obstacles to tuberculosis control in Kenya. Our objective was to identify patient-related factors that were associated with time to TB treatment interruption and the geographic distribution of the risk of treatment interruption by county. Data of new and retreatment patients registered in TIBU, a Kenyan national case-based electronic data recording system, between 2013 and 2014 was obtained. Kaplan-Meier curves and log rank tests were used to assess the adherence patterns. Mixed-effects Cox proportional hazards modeling was used for multivariate analysis. Records from 90,170 patients were …

Using Survival Analysis To Identify Risk Factors For Treatment Interruption Among New And Retreatment Tuberculosis Patients In Kenya, Enos O. Masini, Omar Mansour, Clare E. Speer, Vittorio Addona, Christy L. Hanson, Joseph K. Sitienei, Hillary K. Kipruto, Martin Muhingo Githiomi, Brenda Nyambura Mungai

Faculty Publications

"

Despite high tuberculosis (TB) treatment success rate, treatment adherence is one of the major obstacles to tuberculosis control in Kenya. Our objective was to identify patient-related factors that were associated with time to TB treatment interruption and the geographic distribution of the risk of treatment interruption by county. Data of new and retreatment patients registered in TIBU, a Kenyan national case-based electronic data recording system, between 2013 and 2014 was obtained. Kaplan-Meier curves and log rank tests were used to assess the adherence patterns. Mixed-effects Cox proportional hazards modeling was used for multivariate analysis. Records from 90,170 patients were …

Saccharomyces Boulardii And Bismuth Subsalicylate As Low-Cost Interventions To Reduce The Duration And Severity Of Cholera, Johnathan Sheele, Jessica Cartowski, Angela Dart, Arjun Poddar, Shikha Gupta, Ajay Gupta

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We conducted a randomised single-blinded clinical trial of 100 cholera patients in Port-au-Prince, Haiti to determine if the probiotic Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii and the anti-diarrhoeal drug bismuth subsalicylate (BS) were able to reduce the duration and severity of cholera. Subjects received either: S. boulardii 250 mg, S. boulardii 250 mg capsule plus BS 524 mg tablet, BS 524 mg, or two placebo capsules every 6 hours alongside standard treatment for cholera. The length of hospitalisation plus the number and volume of emesis, stool and urine were recorded every 6 hours until the study subject was discharged (n=83), left against …

Clinical Trials And Late-Stage Drug Development In Alzheimer’S Disease: An Appraisal From 1984 To 2014, L. S. Schneider, F. Mangialasche, S. Andreasen, H. Feldman, E. Giacobini, R. Jones, V. Mantua, P. Mecocci, L. Pani, B. Winblad, M. Kivipelto

Human Clinical Trials Collection

The modern era of drug development for Alzheimer's disease began with the proposal of the cholinergic hypothesis of memory impairment and the 1984 research criteria for Alzheimer's disease. Since then, despite the evaluation of numerous potential treatments in clinical trials, only four cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine have shown sufficient safety and efficacy to allow marketing approval at an international level. Although this is probably because the other drugs tested were ineffective, inadequate clinical development methods have also been blamed for the failures. Here, we review the development of treatments for Alzheimer's disease during the past 30 years, considering the drugs, …

Arsenic Contamination In Groundwater In Vietnam: An Overview And Analysis Of The Historical, Cultural, Economic, And Political Parameters In The Success Of Various Mitigation Options, Thuy M. Ly

Pomona Senior Theses

Although arsenic is naturally present in the environment, 99% of human exposure to arsenic is through ingestion. Throughout history, arsenic is known as “the king of poisons”; it is mutagenic, carcinogenic, and teratogenic. Even in smaller concentrations, it accumulates in the body and takes decades before any physical symptoms of arsenic poisoning shows. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the safe concentration of arsenic in drinking water is 10 µg/L. However, this limit is often times ignored until it is decades too late and people begin showing symptoms of having been poisoned.

This is the current situation for Vietnam, …

Race And Hepatitis C Management Within The Veterans Administration, Joahd Toure, Joshua Metlay, Sandford Schwartz, Knashawn Morales, David Kaplan, Peter Groeneveld

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objective: To examine black-white differences in hepatitis C treatment within the Veterans Administration (VA) and determine whether racial variation in specialty consultation explains differences in hepatitis C treatment between blacks and whites.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 1040 veterans meeting VA eligibility criteria for hepatitis C treatment. We used multiple imputation to handle missing race data. Specialty consultation was determined from the VA outpatient medical dataset and hepatitis C treatment was determined from the VA decision support system. Conditional logistic regression was used to examine the association between race and hepatitis C treatment as well as race …

Clinically Optimal Dosing In The Treatment Of Duodenal Ulcers: A Case Study Of A Phase Iii Snda Clinical Program, Karl E. Peace

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

Georgia Southern University faculty member Karl E. Peace authored "Case Study in Optimal Dosing in Duodenal Eulcer" in Peptic Ulcer Disease.

Modeling Control Of Hiv Infection Through Structured Treatment Interruptions With Recommendations For Experimental Protocol, Shannon Kubiak, Heather Lehr, Rachel Levy, Todd Moeller, Albert Parker, Edward Swim

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) of HIV infection has significantly reduced morbidity and mortality in developed countries. However, since these treatments can cause side effects and require strict adherence to treatment protocol, questions about whether or not treatment can be interrupted or discontinued with control of infection maintained by the host immune system remain to be answered. We present sensitivity analysis of a compartmental model for HIV infection that allows for treatment interruptions, including the sensitivity of the compartments themselves to our parameters as well as the sensitivity of the cost function used in parameter estimation. Recommendations are made about …

Social Work Assessment Of Adaptive Functioning Using The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales: Issues Of Reliability And Validity, Peter Cabrera, Lucienne Grimes-Gaa, Bruce A. Thyer

Elián P. Cabrera-Nguyen

The assessment of client adaptive functioning is often an important component of a comprehensive social work evaluation. The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) are the most commonly used quantitative measures of adaptive functioning for clients meeting the criteria for a wide range of disorders. We review the development of the VABS and current knowledge pertaining to the instrument's reliability and validity. We conclude that the ability to administer and interpret the VABS is an important skill for clinical social workers to acquire.